Tak
Tak is a female Irken and one of the main antagonists of Invader Zim. Her main goal is to take Zim's "mission" because Zim had ruined her training as an Invader. Vicious and determined, she is more focused on trying to gain for herself an honorable title as an Invader than revenge; Zim just happens to be in the way of getting it. That's what she says, anyway; despite her repeated assertions, she does show an inordinate amount of anger and bitterness toward Zim. And with good reason: fifty Earth years prior to Zim's arrival on Earth, Tak was going through training to become an Irken Elite, with the possibility of being chosen as an Invader. Zim, however, caused a major blackout throughout half of Devastis when he chose to retrieve a snack from a faulty vending machine by using a large robot (possibly a Maim Bot, as seen in Hobo 13) and shooting straight at it. The resulting explosion blasted half the planet's power grid and trapped Tak in a training cell on the day of examination. Despite the catastrophic power outage, all tests continued on the other still-working side of the planet, leaving Tak stranded. She pled her case to her assigned Control Brain in hopes for some leniency, but her request was promptly denied. She was put into a janitorial squad to do hard labor on Planet Dirt for the duration of seventy Earth years before she could retake the examination. Appearance Tak has dark purple eyes and square-curled antennae. However, she also has some rather distinctive features that make her stand out from ordinary Irkens. One is an implant in her head that possesses limited mind-altering abilities, such as mind control and erasing memories. However, it only works on the simple-minded. The other notable feature is her custom purple and pink uniform. Although it is modeled after the standard Irken uniform, it also resembles a tailcoat in the back and has a small insignia on the front. Her boots are steel-toed and buckled, similar to another one of Jhonen Vasquez's characters, Johnny the Homicidal Maniac. She also has a black beauty mark under her left eye and a crosshatched mouth, similar to GIR's. Her disguise, which is holographic, has short dark blue hair in a bob cut, very pale skin, black eyeliner, gray eyeshadow, black pants, and two silver rounded earrings. Her clothing is similar to her normal Irken uniform save for some differences; it contains four different shades of purple and blue, has a backpack which covers her PAK, and the emblem on her shirt resembles a female human to help with her disguise. She also only has three fingers, while other humans have four. This is possibly the only flaw in her disguise. Personality She is described by her audience as dark and similar to Gaz because of her gothic apperance (when in her human form). Her most apparent character traits are the fact that she's vindictive, wild, mysterious and rather cunning. She's shown to have a far more advanced disguise than the actual invaders, choosing a hologram over a paper-thin disguise, and taking advantage of the population's obliviousness. Because she is only featured in a single episode, her personality is not explored to an extensive degree. However, it is very clear that she is a more-than-capable Invader. Often times her behavior is misread by audiences as denial of wanting revenge. However, it is important to note that he cause behavior falls more in line with the suffering zim has inflicted on her. The suffering she inflicts on Zim before revealing herself can be interpreted as not just a joy but a means to throwing him off track while she constructed an enormous magma pump disguised as a Deelishus Weenie stand. She states that she doesn't want revenge, but to claim what's rightfully hers. In other words, she should have been an invader instead. Role in Invader Zim Her attempt to take over Earth and thus steal Zim's mission makes Tak an antagonist toward both Zim and Dib. Tak: The Hideous New Girl included her first and only appearance, but if the show had gone on longer, she would have made many appearances throughout the series, namely in Top of the Line. Her role would have mainly been getting in Zim's way of world conquest, making her a main antagonist. In the episode, she would have entered a competition among the other Invaders, during which their SIR Units would be put through a series of tests (not unlike a dog show). Tak's role would have been to sabotage the other SIRs, leaving all but MiMi, Skoodge's and Tenn´s SIR Units and GIR destroyed. Because the script was never recovered, her interaction with Zim during the course of the episode is to be determined. Facts of Doom *She speaks with a British accent. Note her voice actress, Olivia D' Abo is also British. Also tending to dumb herself down when around humans, her voice sounds higher in tone when in disguise. *She designed her ship by modifying a Spittle Runner, painting it red, along with decorating it with her customized version of the Irken insignia. This may be a reference to similarly dark pen-and-paper RPG Warhammer 40,000; in-setting, the Irk race believes that ships are inherently better if red. *The blue spark of light that comes out of her right eye and into her left eye has psionic properties, which she used to make Sara apologize to her and as an added bonus, eat her eraser. She tried to erase Dib and Gaz's memories, but they are apparently immune to her powers, because they are much smarter than the other Skoolchildren. This is thought to come from an implant that's placed on the left side of her head. *When she is standing on top of the magma pump, she turns to jump into her Spittle Runner. Right before she jumps, her implant appears to switch sides. *Her clothes are similar to Johnny C's when in disguise. *Tak is one of the few known Irkens to have purple eyes: Others include the Almighty Tallest Purple, Sizz-Lorr, Invader Zee and a handful of background Irkens. *Despite being enemies, Zim and Tak share one thing in common: they are not real Invaders. *Some believe that Tak is a Defective due to the fact that she once served as a Janitor and still does, since she's able to defy programming since she never passed her exam. Even if she did destroy Earth, it would not matter since she is technically not an Invader. *Tak may have a high pain tolerance, as she reacts much less severely to Earth water than Zim. *While Tak is shown ejecting herself out of her ship at the end of Tak: The Hideous New Girl, the ship that crashes in Dib's yard is whole, leaving how she escaped alive up to debate. *Tak mentions Zim's Roboparents during her confrontation with Dib and Gaz although she had never actually met them, which would imply that she may have followed Zim for some time. *Tak means "yes" in Ukrainian. Whether this was intended by the episode's creator is unknown. *Tak's name is also shared by an extradimensional entity in several books by Stephen King. See also *Dib and Tak's Relationship *Zim and Tak's Relationship Category:Females Category:Irkens Category:Minor Characters Category:Planets Category:Tak